


Before You Ask Which Way to Go Remember Where You've Been

by notaplaceforboats



Category: Julie and The Phantoms (TV 2020)
Genre: Everyone Is Alive, F/F, F/M, M/M, Some bad language, except julie's mom, i'm so sorry that there is a luke/julie/bobby love triangle, i'm trying not to over do it, it just kind of happened as i wrote chapter one and i liked it, she's still dead
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-27
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:29:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29722818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notaplaceforboats/pseuds/notaplaceforboats
Summary: What if instead of the boys dying in 1995 Sunset Curve existed in 2009 and so did Julie? What if Bobby was Carrie's cousin? What if Carrie and Flynn dragged their best friend Julie to Sunset Curve's show at the Orpheum? What if Julie had a dream where she saw death following Luke around? What if Julie saved the boys from eating tainted hotdogs? What if Willie was an art student at Julie's school and kind of a good friend of Flynn's? Because what is JATP fic without a Willex storyline?Basically, the 2009 au that no one asked for that, unfortunately, contains a Luke/Julie/Bobby love triangle.The title is All Time Low lyrics
Relationships: Alex Mercer/Willie (Julie and The Phantoms), Bobby | Trevor Wilson/Reggie Peters, Flynn/Carrie Wilson, Julie Molina/Luke Patterson
Comments: 2
Kudos: 23





	Before You Ask Which Way to Go Remember Where You've Been

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if people add dedications to their fics but this one is pretty special to me because it is a love letter to my teenage years and early 20s. It's for everyone who has fallen in love with music, found solace in lyrics, and screamed those lyrics in tiny crowded venues. It's for everyone who has met people waiting in lines, formed found families with strangers, and found themselves along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really sorry that I'm about to make you read a Luke/Julie/Bobby love triangle. Don't worry it will probably end soon. (Insert John Mulaney voice here; Then it is revealed that she has no plan.)

_Don't look down 'cause we're still rising up right now_ _and even if we hit the ground, we'll still fly_

_Keep dreaming like we'll live forever but live it like it's now or never- Now or Never, Sunset Curve_

Julie Molina had been having strange dreams for almost 2 years. The first one was the worst, it was of her mom slowly decaying and turning into dust as she watched and couldn’t do anything about it. The next week her mom told her she was sick and Julie watched her nightmare come true. Then she noticed that more and more of her dreams were coming true, mostly of small things like new relationships, break-ups, pregnancies, her little brother, Carlos, making the baseball team.

But the dream she had woken up from that morning was weirder than normal because she couldn’t figure out who it was about. All she saw was bright lights, a boy with floppy hair, and death following him. She hadn’t had a dream like that since the night before her mom died. Julie was determined to figure out who the boy was and hoped that unlike her mom she might be able to save him. So, she paid extra attention to every boy she passed on her way to school but she couldn’t find him. Eventually, she made it to her locker and was pulled out of her head by her friends’ Flynn and Carrie’s voices.

“Jules, are you okay?” Flynn asked.

“I had another weird dream last night,” Julie said.

“Oh, Julie. Are you okay?” Carrie asked.

“Yeah… I’m pretty sure someone’s going to die, but I have no clue who,” Julie explained. “I saw the angel of death following him around. It was scary.”

“I’m sure it was just a dream,” Carrie said. Flynn smacked her in the stomach when Julie turned her head. Out of the two of them, Flynn was more supportive of what she called Julie’s witchy side than Carrie was. Flynn also thought that if Julie’s dreams were harmless and believing in them would help her heal then she should let her.

“Moving on. Have you made up your mind about coming to the boys’ show tonight?” Flynn asked.

“I don’t know if I’m up to it, that dream really freaked me out,” Julie lied. The truth was Julie had been looking for a way to get out of going to see Carrie’s cousin Bobby’s band play that night. She had been playing this game since Bobby joined the band right after her mom died. Mostly because since her mom died Julie couldn’t bring herself to listen to music even her favorite songs stung. How would she be able to function at a concert? If she went she’d probably just ruin Flynn and Carrie’s night.

“Come on, Jules. It’ll be fun. Luke, Reggie, and Alex really want to meet you and Bobby told me to tell you that he misses you. It would mean a lot to him if you came. This is a big show for them,” Carrie said.

“It’ll be good for you to get out of the house, meet new people, get out of your head. Maybe you’ll find the person in the crowd and save them?” Flynn suggested.

“I’ll think about it,” Julie said. As the day progressed Julie kept looking around for the mysterious boy with floppy hair, but she couldn’t find him anywhere. After school, she went home and she changed into her pajamas, fully ready to bail on her friends. Then started flipping through old family photo albums trying to see if the boy was one of her cousins that she couldn’t remember, but she couldn’t find him in any of them either.

“What are you doing, Julie?” her dad asked when he noticed she was already in her pajamas.

“I miss mom,” she half lied. She knew if she told her dad the whole truth she’d be back to talking to Dr. Turner three times a week.

"I miss her too,” he said. “Why aren’t you dressed? I thought you were going to Bobby’s band’s concert with Flynn and Carrie tonight?”

“I don’t know if I’m ready yet. The Orpheum was such a special place to mom,” Julie confessed.

“You should go. It might help you feel connected to her.”

Julie thought about what Flynn had said earlier. She knew the boy in her dream wasn’t her dad or Carlos. Maybe she was supposed to go to the show to find him and save him. Maybe it was time to rip the bandaid off and try to start living again.

“You’re right. I’ll go get ready.”

“Mija, why don’t you look in mom’s trunk? Maybe you’ll find something of hers to wear in there? It might help you feel brave.”

“That’s not a bad idea.”

Julie dug through her mom’s trunk until found a leather vest with doodles on it that she had always been fond of. She paired it with ripped jeans and a black tank top with rhinestones on it. She swore she felt sparkles on her skin when she put it on. Then she took a deep breath and made her way downstairs.

“How do I look?” she asked her dad and Carlos.

“Like a gremlin,” Carlos said.

“You look very pretty,” her dad reassured her.

“Like a pretty gremlin,” Carlos added.

“I’m so proud of you,” her dad said. “Your mom would be so happy to see you going out with your friends again.”

Julie didn’t know what to say so she just nodded and tried to look excited for them. When Carrie pulled into her driveway and knocked on the door with Flynn at her side her dad gave them a thumbs up and Julie shot him the biggest smile she could muster.

“Have fun, girls,” he said as Flynn pulled Julie out of the house.

“Don’t worry. You’re going to love the boys,” Flynn assured her.

“Reggie’s a little questionable, but you’ll get used to him,” Carrie said.

They spent the rest of the drive telling Julie what to expect from each of the boys. Luke basically only talked about music. Alex was anxious so he was probably going to be quiet at first but would warm up quickly. Reggie was Reggie and she’d just have to meet him to understand. Julie tried to take it all in when it hit her that Flynn and Carrie were actually good friends with the boys. That while she was grieving and trying to find ways to get out of going out they were building new friendships with boys she had never met.

Julie knew the boys were playing Orpheum, but she didn’t realize what that actually meant, so when they got to the venue she didn’t expect to see so many fans. It never occurred to her that the same Bobby that used to play house with her could be in a band that was so popular.

The boys were just starting their soundcheck when Julie, Carrie, and Flynn walked into the venue. As soon as Julie laid eyes on Luke she knew that he was the one behind the floppy hair in her dream. She kept her mouth shut until they finished their song and Carrie walked up to the stage to say something to Bobby.

“It’s him,” she whispered to Flynn when she was sure Carrie couldn’t hear them.

“Who? What?” Flynn asked.

“The one with the floppy hair. He’s the one that’s going to die,” Julie whispered.

“Luke isn’t going to die tonight. He probably won’t die before he gets a record deal, a hit album, and an international tour. He’s way too stubborn for that,” Flynn said with a chuckle. Julie shot her a look.

“My dreams are never wrong,” Julie said.

“Okay, maybe you can save him. Maybe that’s why you’re here?” Flynn tried.

“Okay. How do I save him without making him think I’m obsessed with him?” Julie asked. Flynn could see that Julie was making this more complicated than it needed to be.

“How about you try to be nice and make a new friend?” Flynn suggested.

They started playing another song before Julie could answer. This one was about living forever and Julie tried not to think about her mom. The last time Julie had been in The Orpheum she was with her mom while she was still healthy. Julie took a deep breath as she remembered how her mom’s perfume smelled and how she held her tight as they sang along to some of their favorite songs together. Her mom would’ve loved Sunset Curve, she wished she could share this moment with her, or at least go home and tell her all about them after.

Luke, Alex, and Reggie may have never met Julie, but they knew what she looked like from the numerous pictures hung on the walls of Carrie’s house. The first thing Luke noticed about Julie when he saw her in person was that she looked tense. He had never seen a person trying harder to look like they were having a good time, not even some of the parents that their fans forced to come to their shows. Luke was determined to get a real smile out of Julie so he tried his best to sing perfectly, jump around in time, basically charm her from the stage. Eventually, he noticed that Julie was tapping her foot and bopping along and he took that as a win. After the song was done the boys jumped off the stage and walked towards the girls.

“Julie! You came!” Bobby said, “It’s been way too long since I’ve seen you.” Flynn and Carrie shot Bobby matching evil glares.

“You guys sounded good as always,” Flynn told the boys.“I would hug you, but you’re already disgusting.”

“It sucks that we wasted the tightest we've played on soundcheck!” Bobby said.

“Wait until tonight, man, when this place gets packed with record execs,” Luke said enthusiastically.

Julie chuckled. Even though she would describe all of the boys as cute there was just something about how confident and energetic Luke was. She tried not to think about the fact that she had dreamed that death was following him around.

“Alex, you were smoking,” Reggie said.

“No. I was just warming up. You guys were the ones on fire,” Alex said.

“Could you just own your awesomeness for once? Carrie, Flynn, please help me tell Alex how good he was,” Reggie pleaded. All it took was one look from the girls for Alex’s face to change.

“All right, you guys are right I was killing it,” Alex said.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Flynn exclaimed. The pair high-fived.

“And you must be the infamous Julie,” Luke said.

“That’s me. Ta-da!” she said with jazz hands.

“I’m Luke.” The pair shook hands and locked eyes for maybe longer than they should’ve until Bobby rudely cleared his throat.

“Alex.” Alex extended his hand towards Julie’s, in a desperate attempt to clear some of the tension.

“And I’m Reggie,” Reggie said. The girls were right there was no real way to describe Reggie he was like a human kitten.

“Okay, I'm thinking we fuel up before the show. I'm thinking street dogs,” Luke said to Alex and Reggie who nodded in agreement.

“You guys should come,” Reggie told the girls.

“Count me out, I’m a vegetarian. I could never hurt an animal,” Bobby reminded them while looking right at Julie.

“He ate a burger for lunch,” Luke said before he walked away following Reggie and Alex.

“It was a veggie burger,” Bobby said under his breath.

Flynn and Carrie looked at each other in disgust. “I can’t believe they’re still eating street hotdogs,” Carrie said. Julie gave her friends a confused look.

“They’re not from a hotdog stand, some guy makes them by his car,” Flynn explained.

A pit grew in Julie’s stomach as she watched the boys walk towards the exit. She was not going to let Luke die from a hotdog. How embarrassing would that be? She racked her brain thinking of some way to convince the boys not to eat the possibly deadly hotdogs.

“Luke, wait! Do you guys like tacos?” Julie yelled almost too earnestly. She couldn’t see it from where she was standing, but a smile grew on his face after hearing her call his name, not Reggie’s, not Alex’s, but his. He stopped in his tracks and turned to hear her out. Alex and Reggie did the same. “Because there’s this really good taco truck that I haven’t gone to in way too long. It’s usually parked not too far from here, and they even have veggie tacos for Bobby.”

Julie only knew about this taco truck because it was the same one that her mom always took her to before they went to The Orpheum. The truck almost felt like a sacred place and part of her didn’t want to share it, but she knew that the tacos were more sanitary and the boys deserved to eat something that wasn’t going to give them food poisoning, or worse.

“That sounds amazing,” Luke said.

“Tacos sound so good, way better than street dogs,” Reggie said.

“Bobby?” Julie asked.

“I could go for tacos,” he responded with a nod.

“Tacos?” Alex said. Then it hit him, all three of his idiot bandmates were flirting with Julie. “Okay, I guess that works for me.”

“It should be up one block and around the corner,” Julie explained once they were outside. Reggie tried to start leading the way until Flynn and Carrie who had gone to the truck with Julie and her mom took over. Alex noticed how uncomfortable Julie had been around Bobby so he called out for him and made small talk before he could walk to her. Julie kept a close eye on Luke as he walked next to Reggie. The pair kept shoving each other jokingly and Luke was getting too close to the road for her liking so she sped up to catch up with them.

“So, I know Bobby is new, but how long have you three been a band?” Julie asked.

“We’ve always played music together and we’ve known each other since elementary school. Officially Sunset Curve has been a band for 3 years,” Reggie said.

“Cool,” Julie said.

“Yeah. So, Flynn and Carrie told us you’re a singer and you write songs,” Luke said with a sly smile.

“I used to be…” Julie said, staring straight ahead of her, instead of directing her attention at Luke.

“What do you mean used to be?” Luke asked.

“It’s nothing,” Julie stammered. She wasn’t sure if she was ready to talk to the boys about her mom yet. She was sure her friends already had told them everything they needed to know. “Hey, look we’re here.”

At the sight of the taco truck, Reggie ran to the front of the group, Alex was behind him followed by Bobby, Flynn, and Carrie leaving Julie stuck next to Luke who was going to eventually ask her about her mom.

“Why’d you stop singing?” Luke asked.

“I really don’t want to talk about it right now,” she said. But she had a sneaking suspicion that Luke wasn’t going to give up so easily.

“Maybe you could write a song about it,” Luke suggested. “Whenever I need to work through something I write a song and then I feel better.”

Julie took a deep shaky breath and hoped that Carrie and Flynn hadn’t said anything to him about her mom and this wasn’t his solution to her grief. “Sometimes it’s not that simple,” she finally said.

Luke was beyond confused, to him there was nothing that music couldn’t solve. Everything he had been through music was there for him, all the bullshit with his parents, the bad grades, making sure his friends were safe and happy. He knew that as long as he had his bandmates, his guitar, and could make music things would be okay for all of them. He wished Julie had that in her life, but it was obvious to him that something horrible must have happened to her for her not to see the magic anymore. Before Luke could ask her another question Bobby came up to them.

“I bought you some tacos,” Bobby told Julie.

“That was really nice of you,” Julie responded. She knew she had to make it abundantly clear she wasn’t interested in him so she straightened her back and continued. “But I can buy my own food.”

“Oh, okay,” Bobby said. Julie was thankful that he had taken the hint. He took all of the tacos he had bought and walked towards Reggie and Alex. He handed the abandoned meat-filled tacos to them and started eating the veggie ones he bought for himself.

“Damn, that was cold,” Luke smirked.

“What do you mean?” Julie asked.

“He’s clearly into you,” Luke retorted, thinking he had opened a door for Julie to flirt with him.

“And I think I let him down gently enough. I’m not looking for a relationship right now. I’ve got to work on myself,” she said. She hoped that even though she might’ve thought Luke was kind of cute she made it clear she wasn’t ready to date him either.

Before he could respond Julie started ordering her food. After they got their food they walked towards their friends who were happily eating tacos. Luke walked up to Reggie and Alex, took one of the tacos Bobby had bought for Julie, and made a scene as he took a big bite out of it. Julie watched in horror as she realized that neither Bobby or Luke were going to give up on trying to date her any time soon.

“What the hell have I gotten myself into?” she asked the air. She really wished she could go home and talk to her mom about everything. Then she walked towards Flynn and Carrie, hoping that if she didn’t interact with the boys they’d get the hint that she was done with being hit on by them for the night.

“So?” Carrie asked. “Luke’s pretty cute, right?”

“I didn’t notice,” Julie tried.

“Then why do you keep looking at him?” Carrie asked.

“I’m not looking at him,” Julie said.

“Carrie, drop it. Okay?” Flynn said.

“I’m trying to make sure he doesn’t die. Okay? It was him in my dream,” Julie said.

“Julie, I promise you. Luke isn’t going to die tonight,” Carrie said.

Julie took a bite of a taco and nodded. She decided she wasn’t going to bring her dream up again. It wasn’t worth freaking Luke out over a dream.

Even though it hurt, she quietly watched the rest of the group share inside jokes as they finished eating. She had to accept that life had kept moving without her. When everyone was done they started making their way to the venue so the boys wouldn’t be late for the biggest show of their careers so far.

On the way back to the venue Julie kept her distance from Luke. Luke is going to be fine. She repeated the phrase over and over in her head until she started believing it.

“Okay, band circle guys,” Bobby said. The four boys huddled together as the girl watched with smiles on their faces.

“This is awesome, you guys. We're playing The Orpheum! I can't even count how many bands have played here and then ended up being huge. We're gonna be legends! After tonight, everything changes,” Luke said.

“Sunset Curve forever on three,” Reggie said.

“Normally I’d say this is cheesy, but it’s a special night so I’ll let it slide,” Alex joked.

“1, 2, 3! Sunset Curve forever!” the boys yelled.

The boys played the best show of their lives that night, even better than the soundcheck before it. Both Luke and Bobby couldn’t help but look right at Julie throughout the show. They were trying their best to get her to pay attention to them, but Julie didn’t notice either of them particularly.

As time went on and the band played more songs she started to feel more alive than she had in a long time. It wasn’t just about them, it was their music it was like an energy pulling all of them together. She felt each note in her bones, her soul. Luke swore he could feel it from his place on stage. Sure, he wanted that connection with everyone he played for but Julie was different. He was convinced that Julie was going to change everything.


End file.
